Lyness, Hoy

The intention of this morning was to go to Westray, where the school has created another Metasaga. With a ferry from Kirkwall at 11:10 it would give me morning time to sleep a little later, and to write in the morning. My host, Ida, took me to the harbour just to see the boat leaving. I had looked at the wrong day.

But there was a ferry from Houton to Lyness, Hoy, which would allow me to further explore the Hoy Metasaga.

I am discovering that being on a Metajourney is something very different from ordinary traveling. It takes time, and energy. You are exploring the landscape, and what happens, differently when you listen to what happens inside you, and what questions that come up out of what you experience. But you also learn a lot about what you are exploring, when you take the time to listen both to the place and what happens inside you.

Lyness was Britains main naval base in two world wars. Over 20,000 people worked and lived here at these times. This is evident wherever you go. Remains of piers, roads, houses are everywhere. There is a wonderful museum in Lyness, the Scapa Flow visitor Centre. Go there if you have a chance.

I start to walk south. The landscape is open, and the wind is almost warm. In my rucksack I have a beer and a sandwich, and I am getting ready for a lunch break. North Walls School offers me the refuge I need, the school that is one of the Metasaga schools of Orkney. I have traveled this far, and here in this empty school they have worked to produce a Metasaga guide for Hoy.

Later in the museum I buy the Hoy Metasaga booklet for £1.

My planning mistake from the morning led me to the best place to be.

A couple of questions get to me.

-Tell about a time when a mistake tead to something interesting and valuable

-What are you keeping to yourself that others might find useful, if they knew about it?

-What is important to keep and cherish, even though you have moved further?

Slide show from my whole Scottish Metasaga below.